The Ann Arbor City Council met in Larcom City Hall Monday evening to pass plans to increase affordable housing, lessen regulation of vegetation and provide more information on the Arbor South development project.

The meeting began with an update on the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission, which aims to improve the relationship between Ann Arbor residents and local police through encouraging community-oriented policing. City Administrator Milton Dohoney Jr. said the commission was in the process of reviewing the Ann Arbor Police Department’s policies and procedures.

“So far, they have reviewed 130 policies,” Dohoney said. “We don’t have a lot of things to add or suggest — they’re about halfway through. Hopefully, by our first meeting in January, we’ll be able to prepare a complete report as to what our take is on the policies.”

The meeting then moved to public comment. Many community members focused on pedestrian safety, citing the multiple fatalities and serious injuries caused by traffic accidents in 2025. Ann Arbor resident Margaret McCall said action needs to be taken to address these incidents and make the city more pedestrian friendly.

“I don’t want to live in a town where you can’t feel safe exploring without being behind the wheel of an SUV,” McCall said. “Ultimately, it’s about the deaths and serious injuries, but it’s also about eliminating the near-misses, the feeling of nervousness stepping out into the street and the feeling that you probably choose to drive because it is safer.”

After public comment concluded, the council moved on to ordinance B-1, which would end regulations requiring vegetation, excluding trees and shrubs, be less than 12 inches tall when not part of a cultivated bed or planned natural landscape. The ordinance would also maintain a vegetation clearance requirement of 8 feet over sidewalks and increase the clearance requirement for streets from 8 feet to 14 feet.

The resolution builds on previous efforts by the city of Ann Arbor to encourage more environmentally friendly behavior, including growing native plants and flowers and reducing mowing frequency on turfgrass lawns. The ordinance was passed in an eight to one vote by the council.

Councilmember Travis Radina, D-Ward 3, said he voted against the resolution due to concern over the potential safety risk of unregulated vegetation.

“A couple of weeks ago, I communicated with the fire chief about my concerns that unmaintained grass, particularly in dry summer months, is highly flammable,” Radina said. “While he noted the overall fire risk of large fires being spread from overgrown vegetation remains relatively low due to Ann Arbor’s non-drought conditions, the fire department’s primary concern is the safety of individual residences with excessive vegetation.”

Councilmember Erica Briggs, D-Ward 5, said the resolution could eliminate fear of penalization for homeowners seeking to grow native plants.

“I think it will make a real difference for people,” Briggs said. “It is very unpleasant to be trying to do something that you know would be good for the environment and to get a ticket for it. It just makes you feel like your city is not aligned with your values, and that’s not true.”

The council unanimously passed DC-2, a resolution to provide a public summary of the proposed Arbor South development agreement. Arbor South, if approved, will include more than 1,000 new housing units, including 229 affordable and 839 market-rate units, by redeveloping an area currently occupied by parking lots.

The development was made possible by a 2021 City Council resolution that created a new transit corridor zoning district to increase housing density in major traffic corridors largely on the city’s periphery. The council indefinitely postponed a vote on approval of the Arbor South development agreement at the previous two meetings Nov. 6 and Nov. 17.

Mayor Christopher Taylor said the summary will aim to reduce the information imbalance that currently exists between Ann Arbor residents and councilmembers regarding the development.

“There have been a fair number of questions presented with respect to this matter,” Taylor said. “While councilmembers have received the benefit of staff expertise in connection with those questions, not all those questions have been answered and addressed in a public fashion.”

The council then unanimously approved DS-1, a brownfield plan which will redevelop nine parcels of vacant land into affordable townhomes. Brownfield plans are authorized to use tax increment financing to support redevelopment, a tool that reimburses development costs using future tax revenue generated by the development of the property.

Brownfield plans are often used by municipalities to improve contaminated or previously-developed properties, but may also be reinterpreted to create new housing in communities where there is a specific need. The plan includes data indicating a great need for affordable housing units in Ann Arbor, allowing the city to qualify under the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act.

Councilmember Jon Mallek, D-Ward 2, said the plan will allow Ann Arbor to overcome the difficulties of building affordable housing — including that it is not often financially lucrative — and create missing middle housing, which includes diverse options at various price points.

“Building affordable housing costs the same as building market-rate housing,” Mallek said. “Because of this reality, affordable housing requires creative solutions. This project addresses a missing middle housing typology while providing affordable units through new taxes that would not exist but for these various projects.”

Daily Staff Reporter Carter Carino can be reached at carinoc@umich.edu.